BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown says there is a lot to be proud of in the last twelve months in the City of Buffalo.
“We have achieved one of the best fiscal positions in our city,” Mayor Brown said Friday. “I am happy to report to you that not one city employee was laid off as a result of the pandemic.”
During his 15th State of the City address as Buffalo Mayor, Brown touted what he called the city’s ability to work through the pandemic, create infrastructure changes including bringing new business to downtown and the East Side, and the city’s police reform agenda.
“We suspended late fees for water and sewer bills, restored service to households that had their water turned off,” said the mayor.
“Our current mayor claims credit for clean water…that only happened after the people demanded it,” said India Walton who is running for Mayor against Brown.
Walton is running on the working families party line. She says after 16 years under the same administration there needs to be a change in leadership.
During his thirty-minute pre-taped address, Brown talked about the city’s police reforms that were implemented over the summer, following protests over the death of George Floyd including banning choke holds and issuing appearance tickets instead of arrests for all but the most dangerous offenses.
“We’ve invested in non-lethal options for police to use,” said Mayor Brown. “We have deployed a special behavioral health team to respond to mental health calls.”
Walton says the reforms by the Mayor this year don’t go far enough.
“False solutions that further feed the already bloated police budget,” she said. “The Police Advisory Board asked for police to be removed from mental health calls, yet police received more weapons,” she said.
The Mayoral race is November 2.
Mayor Brown also announced Paramount Pictures is coming back to Buffalo this month to shoot scenes for another movie. It is unclear at this time what that movie is.
